28 ideas
11103 | We aren't stuck with our native conceptual scheme; we can gradually change it [Quine] |
4037 | Ockham's Razor is the principle that we need reasons to believe in entities [Mellor/Oliver] |
13886 | Later Frege held that definitions must fix a function's value for every possible argument [Frege, by Wright,C] |
9845 | We can't define a word by defining an expression containing it, as the remaining parts are a problem [Frege] |
10019 | Only what is logically complex can be defined; what is simple must be pointed to [Frege] |
9886 | Cardinals say how many, and reals give measurements compared to a unit quantity [Frege] |
9889 | Real numbers are ratios of quantities [Frege, by Dummett] |
10553 | A number is a class of classes of the same cardinality [Frege, by Dummett] |
10020 | Frege's biggest error is in not accounting for the senses of number terms [Hodes on Frege] |
9887 | Formalism misunderstands applications, metatheory, and infinity [Frege, by Dummett] |
8751 | Only applicability raises arithmetic from a game to a science [Frege] |
11092 | A river is a process, with stages; if we consider it as one thing, we are considering a process [Quine] |
11093 | We don't say 'red' is abstract, unlike a river, just because it has discontinuous shape [Quine] |
11101 | General terms don't commit us ontologically, but singular terms with substitution do [Quine] |
11096 | Discourse generally departmentalizes itself to some degree [Quine] |
4027 | Properties are respects in which particular objects may be alike or differ [Mellor/Oliver] |
4029 | Nominalists ask why we should postulate properties at all [Mellor/Oliver] |
11099 | Understanding 'is square' is knowing when to apply it, not knowing some object [Quine] |
11094 | 'Red' is a single concrete object in space-time; 'red' and 'drop' are parts of a red drop [Quine] |
11097 | Red is the largest red thing in the universe [Quine] |
9891 | The first demand of logic is of a sharp boundary [Frege] |
17595 | To unite a sequence of ostensions to make one object, a prior concept of identity is needed [Quine] |
11095 | We should just identify any items which are indiscernible within a given discourse [Quine] |
11104 | Concepts are language [Quine] |
11102 | Apply '-ness' or 'class of' to abstract general terms, to get second-level abstract singular terms [Quine] |
9890 | The modern account of real numbers detaches a ratio from its geometrical origins [Frege] |
4039 | Abstractions lack causes, effects and spatio-temporal locations [Mellor/Oliver] |
11846 | If we abstract the difference between two houses, they don't become the same house [Frege] |